Tribocharging Characteristics of the Mars Dust Simulant (JSC Mars-1)

Abstract

The determination of triboelectric properties of the Martian dust would be critical for future human and robotic missions to Mars. Several major studies relating to future missions to Mars have highlighted the significance of electrostatic charge accumulation and its impact on various aspects of the mission due to tribocharging of the Mars dust. The tribocharging properties of the Mars dust simulant (JSC Mars-1) against stainless steel and Teflon were characterized. An electronic single particle aerodynamic relaxation time (ESPART) analyzer was used to measure the aerodynamic size and charge distributions of the dust particles. Faraday cup measurements were used for calculating average charge-to-mass ratio. The average charge-to-mass ratio of dust tribocharged against stainless steel (SS) was -1.19 muC/g, whereas it was found to be +1.21 muC/g against Teflon (PTFE). These results indicated that the work function of the JSC Mars-1 lies between that of the SS and Teflon.